In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Prof Les Ebdon said the most sought-after institutions should set “challenging” new targets to create a more socially balanced student body.

English universities will be expected to enrol thousands more undergraduates from working-class families and poor-performing state schools in return for the right to charge up to £9,000 in tuition fees, it emerged.

Prof Ebdon, newly-appointed director of the Office for Fair Access, suggested that one poor student should eventually be admitted for each candidate enlisted from the wealthiest 20 per cent of households.

Currently, the ratio stands at around one-to-seven, he said.

Speaking as he took up his role this week, Prof Ebdon said the country’s best universities were “not going to stay world class in a very competitive world unless they have access to the full pool of talent”.

He suggested that top universities should stage more summer schools and sponsor state academies to boost application rates among poor teenagers.

Prof Ebdon also praised universities that admitted students from struggling state comprehensives with lower grade A-levels than those from high-flying schools, adding: “Context has to be taken into account if you are going to assess potential.”

Critics will argue that it should not be the responsibility of universities to make up for deficiencies in state schools which have not helped bright pupils achieve their potential.

The comments come six months after the appointment of Prof Ebdon, former vice-chancellor of Bedfordshire University, sparked a political storm.

He was heavily backed by senior Liberal Democrats, including Vince Cable, the Business Secretary. But the move caused outrage among Conservative backbenchers who claimed he would prioritise “social engineering” over academic excellence.

The controversy was fuelled when Prof Ebdon told MPs he would not be afraid to use “nuclear” penalties if universities repeatedly missed targets for widening their student intake.

As director of OFFA, he has the power to fine institutions £500,000 or ban them from levying tuition fees of more than £6,000 a year – a potentially crippling sanction.

Universities wishing to charge more than £6,000 must draw up an “access agreement” – signed off by Prof Ebdon – setting out how they will attract and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Speaking this week, he quoted figures showing that teenagers from the “poorest 40 per cent” of families currently have as much chance of taking a degree as those from the “most advantaged 20 per cent of our society”.

But he said: “In our most selective universities, that ratio has slipped to one-to-six and some figures suggest it may now slip to one-to-seven. Clearly, that is a concern and the size of the challenge that we face.

“I think, if there is equal opportunity and fair access, one would want to see that ratio move to one-to-one, as it is in the majority of universities, but clearly that is not going to happen overnight as the causes are deep-seated and ones we have all got to work at. But I certainly don’t underestimate the importance of that challenge.”

Prof Ebdon said the task facing Oxford and Cambridge – where more than four-in-10 students are from private schools – was “more stark” than for other universities.

He said: “Under my leadership, OFFA will be more challenging but it will also be more supportive. We will expect universities to set themselves more challenging targets.”

Prof Ebdon refused to be drawn on the use of “nuclear” penalties, insisting that “greater challenge and greater support will the characteristic of my time as director”. He also pledged to launch research into the best programmes used to increase the number of students from poor backgrounds – maximising the £800m currently spent each year by institutions on outreach.

The Russell Group, which represents 24 leading universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, has repeatedly criticised the use of admissions targets, insisting that efforts to raise participation rates are being hampered by underperformance in state schools.

But Prof Ebdon said he “can’t agree with” the notion that “universities cannot do much about that”, adding that many were already running summer schools for poor pupils, sponsoring state academies and sending lecturers into classrooms to mentor children.

He also backed the use of “contextual data” – information on students’ family background, school performance and ethnicity – during the admissions process, which can be used to make lower-grade offers to poor teenagers.

“Universities such as Bristol have shown quite clearly that students with slightly lower A-level grades who come from schools that are less high achieving, represent a slightly greater academic potential than those with slightly higher grades from a high achieving school,” he said. “So context has to be taken into account if you are going to assess potential.”